Sol Stern, City Journal contributing editor, participates in
a NewTalk forum about the future of the the No Child Left Behind Act,
joining other education experts such as Diane Ravitch, Chester Finn,
and Randi Weingarten. Click here
to read this ongoing NewTalk forum.

Sol Stern

Sol Stern is a contributing editor of City Journal and a Manhattan Institute senior fellow. He writes passionately on education reform, and his writings on that topic have helped shape the terms of the current debate in New York City.

Stern is the author of Breaking Free: Public School Lessons and the Imperative of School Choice. Aside from his work in City Journal, Stern's articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Magazine, Commentary, The New Republic, the New York Daily News, Newsday, the Village Voice, New York Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and The New Statesmen.

Mr. Stern was an editor and staff writer for Ramparts magazine between 1966 and 1972. He then spent the next twelve years as a freelance writer and editor. From 1985 to 1994, Mr. Stern served as director of Issues, press secretary, and senior policy adviser in the Office of the City Council President of New York. In 1994, he was appointed executive director of a New York State Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform, where he served for one year. After leaving state government, he returned to journalism.

Stern grew up in New York City and graduated from Stuyvesant High School and the City College of New York. He received an M.A. in political science from the State University of Iowa and did further graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Ruth Stern, who teaches in a New York City public high school.